December 20 2011.
Well that’s another year ticked off, where did that go? It's been action packed starting with the hugely successful year 5 & 6 camp the hosting of many children from Christchurch, followed by amazing displays of creativity and artistic endeavour at Wearable Arts and Artsplash, sporting triumphs at swimming sports, athletics and national recognition at cross country, some superb international academic results in the ICAS tests, a wonderful fundraiser for a Cambodian School at the Art Auction and finishing with EOTC weeks and the year 7-8 Mt Holdsworth and Able Tasman trips 2011 has been a full and enjoyable year.
2011 has also been an interesting and challenging time for the Board as we have grappled with finding ways to provide the quality of education and rich experiences we all want on a very tight budget. We have adopted a transparent approach to these challenges and invited you to contribute as part of the community wide discussion around the refining of our Charter. We have appreciated both the frankness of your responses and most notably the overwhelming endorsement of the direction we are taking.
The responses have been discussed at length and, together with discussions that have taken place throughout the community, have formed an important part of the re-drafting. A final draft is being reviewed over the holiday period and we expect to be in a position to publish the completed version when it is submitted to the Ministry of Education in February 2012. Thank you again to all those who took the opportunity to make their voices heard.
Last month the mid-term Board nominations closed and there were two nominations received for the two positions available. No election was accordingly necessary and we are delighted to welcome back Julie Parker and a new Board member, Carolyn Patchett. Carolyn brings a wealth of educational experience and will be another great asset to the Board. Her bio, along with that of your other Board members can be viewed here.
The Board has also resolved, at our November meeting, to co-opt Dave Griffiths as an additional trustee. As an accountant, Dave brings some crucial expertise to the financial management of the school and we are delighted that he has agreed to continue as a co-opted trustee.
Whilst finances and charters and reports and policies are the stuff of governance we do strive to make sure we keep “the main thing the main thing”.. And the “main thing” is of course our student’s achievement. We were delighted with the Student Achievement results which were reviewed at the November Board meeting. It once again shows the vast majority of our children achieving at or above the national standards in Reading Writing and Mathematics and continued progress towards our charter goals. You can read a summary of the schoolwide data by clicking here.
Best wishes from the Board as you head off with your families for a well-earned summer break and soak up all our beautiful country has to offer. Have a wonderful and happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.
Olivia, Griff, Dave, Julie, Lisa, Carolyn, Andrew and Stu
